Mr Swarbrick was also curious as to why the virus evolved specifically in Kent, with Prof Towers explaining it was completely by chance and because the UK has sequenced much of COVID-19, it is likely for us to find more variants before other countries.
It comes as the South Africa variant also continues to spread across the world as vaccine efficacy falls against it.
The UK also recently added a “Bristol” variant to its “cause for concern” list as around 50 cases were found to have an E484K spike protein mutation.
The UK vaccination programme creeps closer to its 15 million inoculation target with over 13.5 million people vaccinated so far.
BBC News
By Rachel Schraer
image copyrightSCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
A new variant of the virus causing Covid-19, first spotted in Kent, could already be circulating - or have originated from - outside the UK.
But it was spotted here because of the strength of the UK s surveillance system, scientists have said.
The Covid-19 Genomics Consortium (Cog-UK) has tracked the genetic history of more than 150,000 samples of Sars-Cov-2 virus.
That equates to about half the world s genetic sequencing of coronavirus.
Prof Sharon Peacock, head of Cog-UK, said the UK s high level of genomic surveillance meant if you re going to find something anywhere, you re going to find it probably here first .
BBC News
By Rachel Schraer
image copyrightSCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
A new variant of the virus causing Covid-19, first spotted in Kent, could already be circulating - or have originated from - outside the UK.
But it was spotted here because of the strength of the UK s surveillance system, scientists have said.
The Covid-19 Genomics Consortium (Cog-UK) has tracked the genetic history of more than 150,000 samples of Sars-Cov-2 virus.
That equates to about half the world s genetic sequencing of coronavirus.
Prof Sharon Peacock, head of Cog-UK, said the UK s high level of genomic surveillance meant if you re going to find something anywhere, you re going to find it probably here first .